The Glee Project: Zombie Apocalypse
by littlehoneypot
Summary: The kids from the Glee Project get caught up in a zombie apocalypse and each of there lives tangle within each other through friendship, romance and family. Rated M just incase. Season 1 and 2.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is just a Glee Project story i'm trying out. I haven't got much motivation at the moment so I might not get it finished but I thought i'd post the first chapter anyhow :-)**

**So I'm pretty much just taking the names and faces of the Glee Project contestants and putting them into my story. Maybe a little bit of their personality also. I don't know depends how this turns out :-) **

* * *

Damian.

_The impossible is possible._ Complete and utter irony. The man on the billboard knows nothing of the impossible. He knows nothing of running. He probably only had to run for 3 metres until the photographer got the money shot. I'm running for my life. I'm living the definition of _trample the weak, hurdle the dead. _I turn away from the billboard and scan the deserted road with a flick of my eyes. There are run down cars wrapped around telephone posts. The constant smell whiffed down the street, carried by the wind. Once I saw it was clear I streaked forward, head low. I listened for anything unusual; like the scraping of dead feet being dragged or the drip of blood splattering against the concrete ground. I flicked my eyes to my back occasionally as I ran. There's nothing there but I can't help but stay cautious. I dodged the fallen posts and jumped over the boots of cars my eyes locked on the empty alley before me. The loaves of bread are flopping around in my arms as I sprint down the side alley - my eyes search for the open door down the very end. I spot Cameron smiling at me in the doorway, nodding his head furiously. I smile back giving a sneaky wink. I trip over a little on the tipped over bins and empty cans sprayed out across the ground.

"Is that fruit bread?" Cameron called enthusiastically. I smiled and take the last glides towards him. I crashed into Cameron dropping half the load into his ready arms, my own stinging slightly from the weight.

"Just for you my man," I laugh. Cameron pats me on the back and turns to walk down the darkly lit corridor. He ruffles through the different food, giving a shout of appreciation. I shut the door behind me locking all three locks before pushing the chair in front of handle. I follow Cameron down the corridor shivering in my jumper. The corridor gets no light. There are no windows here, but it's safer that way.

"Damian, your the best," Cameron calls from in front of me. "Maybe we should send you on all the raids!" I laugh along with him, though I'm secretly hoping that he doesn't take the joke too seriously. He is probably right though. I am the fastest of us all and the most committed to carrying out a raid. But I can be blinded by my willingness to get the best for the others. I'm not known for taking appropriate risks. Luckily today I didn't come across many zombies, though. I have a knack for getting myself into trouble. If I stay low and keep quiet they usually don't notice me. I start to see the light at the end of the corridor and hear the quiet murmur of anxious voices. Cameron and I start to speed up a little. We're both excited to tell the others the good news. Fruit bread! We hardly ever get treats. Especially when the others go on the raids. Bryce gets the 'vitamins' and 'irons' and his precious protein shakes. Lindsay just gets in and gets out. And Cameron comes home with whatever he could grab in the ten minutes he's out. I think the others get excited when they know I'm coming home. Last time from my raid, we all had Raspberry Square. It was yum but probably wasn't worth the effort I put in to get it. I didn't tell the others this but I literally had the closest call, yet. It was three weeks ago and I was finished with the raid. I had all the essentials and was super surprised at how smoothly it had all run. I saw the square out of the corner of my eye. The temptation was too great. Without looking I sprinted to the end of the aisle and snatched up the tin. When I turned around three zombies had me corned. They smiled at me with their weird, crinkly dripping mouths. I completely freaked out and without thinking anything through, I threw tins of spaghetti at each of their faces. It momentarily stunned them and I skidded through their legs. I hoofed it all the way home without out stopping for a breather. I could out run any zombie, any day.

In front of me Cameron slid through the open door. I hear a huge sigh of relief followed by an uproar of cheers. I slide through the door after him grinning from ear to ear. A warm body slams up against me instantly. The boxes of food tumble out of my hands. I feel the slight shake of her body. I wrap my arms around her waist and lift her up in a hug. Her head of hair snuggles up against my head and I get a strong whiff of her strawberry shampoo (which I also made an effort to receive for her today). I pat the back of her head softly - giving her a squeeze before dropping her down and pulling her away from my body.

I smiled down at her. Her eyebrows are creased into a sharp line. "You always get so worried, Lindsay! How many times do I have to tell you; I always come back!"

Lindsay gives a shaky laugh, lets go of my hands, and bends down to pick the boxes off the ground. She takes them over to our kitchen (a tiny, dirty bench space) inspecting her shampoo with a smile. On the other side of our square room, sitting on the stained couch are Emily and Bryce looking through Cameron's lot.

"Fruit bread, Damian?" Emily comes over to give me a hug. "Your too good to us." Bryce thumps me on the back appreciatively. He pulls out a new set of shavers from a small blue box and gives me a wink.

"I need some of those!" Emily snatches the box of shavers out of her brother's hands. "This may be the end of the world and you boys are my last chance for a good time but a girls still got to look good, dammit." Emily crackles and flicks her hair. She pulls out two shavers from the box and dances her way over to Lindsay.

"Damian, did you get panadol?" Bryce asks. "I can't see it in here?"

"Over here, Bryce!" Lindsay calls from the kitchen. She throws over the small white box perfectly into Bryce's hands.

"I told you he never forgets anything," Cameron smiles at me. I smile back. My chest wells with joy. I like to lead. I like the feeling of satisfaction when the others admit they need me. I feel like I'm the leader of this group. I'm always keeping us in line and I prevent arguments between Emily and Cameron almost everyday.

"Yeah, yeah," Bryce moans with the tug of a smile in his voice. Cameron laughs and pulls out a dirty, old card pack from under the couch pillow. Bryce turns his attention to Cameron. I picked the pasta and cereal boxes and other kooky items off the couch that they'd finished looking at and took them over to Lindsay in the kitchen. I dropped the boxes into Lindsay's ready hands. She smiled at me but I can tell she's still a little shaken from before. She's too compassionate for her own good. She probably didn't sleep at all last night while I was away.

"Can I take your clothes now, Damian? Its starting to get late," Emily holds out her hand, smirking. "You too - Cameron, Bryce!"

"Have you got the slacks with you, then?"

Emily hands over the rusty, smelly clothes. We have one set of clothes each and they are clothes we were wearing when we ran away from home. We don't have time to find clothes on our raids. We just take the food and run. Lindsay, who is quite handy with her hands, cut out some slacks out of some dirty sheets and curtains. So that's what we change into while Emily washes our usual day clothes. There's no privacy in this house - there is only one room - so we all strip in front of each other. It did take a while to get used too. I'm quite confident with my body but Cameron - at first - refused to get changed.

The girls turn away in politeness as we take off our underwear. I pulled on the tight, little shorts with a stretch and tug the singlet over my head. Cameron and Bryce - already changed into their short-shorts - place their dirty clothes into Emily's hands. I drop my green jumper and blue jeans into Emily's arms also.

"Lindsay what about you?" Emily asks.

Lindsay looks down at her white pleated knee high skirt and blouse. "No, they have a few more days in them I think." Lindsay smiles thoughtfully. Emily nods and wanders out of the room. She's headed down the long corridor, which leads to the outside door. Doing the washing is the only time we can ever get Emily to go outside. I think she feels guilty about the little help she does, so she compensates with housework. It still works Cameron up all the time though. He doesn't think its fair. She's kind of been dead scared of the outside world ever since this apocalypse started. I don't know how Bryce ever dealt with her on his own. I love her but she's totally useless. Something must have happened to her to make her so frightened of zombies. Sure, they are disgusting, creepy and brain eating freaks but I would never put my fear in front of Cameron, Lindsay, Bryce, Emily and my own survival.

I've always wondered how the others survived so long on their own. We have never really got the chance or wanted the chance to talk about our past lives to each other. I've known Cameron ever since I was little, of course. Our mothers were best friends and they kind of pushed us on each other. Though, I've never felt closer to him than I do now. I had to lose my family and his own and the rest of humanity to really appreciate Cameron. This whole apocalypse has been so much worse for him than for me. The night this mess started I was home alone - my parents had gone away on vacation to California (I was never that close to them) - I was bored and a little depressed. I didn't really live the fun life before this. I was bullied because of my accent and my only friend was Cameron. I wasn't sure why we were friends. Was it because our mums said so? Or did he really consider me friend? We didn't hang out much. He was a lot different to me. I was an outcast. He was a nerd. I had no luck with the girls. Cameron had countless different girlfriends hanging off his arms almost every week. He chose me that night, though. When he had nothing left, he came to me. He came to my door with tears streaked down his face.

_"Damian?" Cameron smashed into me, hugging me tightly. "Your fine, right? Let me see your skin!" Cameron pulled and tugged on my arms and legs searching my body._

_I tried to pull away, pushing against Cameron's chest. I wasn't comfortable with him touching me. "What's going on? Have you been crying?"_

_Cameron didn't answer right away. He pushed away from me, turned to the door and bolted it shut. He ran straight into my living room checking all the windows - shutting the open ones and locking them all. I ran to him, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him still._

_"Cameron! Talk to me! What's going on?" Cameron dropped to the ground like a rag doll. I slid down beside him slowly._

_He dropped his head into his hands and murmured, "Its crazy. I w-was s-singing in my r-room -" his voice cracked and tears dropped to the floor. It was weird to see him cry. I rubbed him on the back encouragingly. Waiting for him to go on._

_"M-mum walked in to my r-room - she was like, dragging her feet or s-something? - I was s-scared. S-she just r-ran at m-me, full t-throttle, her m-mouth dripping w-with - w-what looked like b-b-b-blood!"_

Cameron's mother had eaten his father and then came to finish Cameron off. Cameron managed to escape and left his mum dripping with blood - feeding on his father. Cameron came straight to Damian. Out of all his friends and all his girlfriends, he chose Damian. And the rest was history. They survived six weeks on their own together but things became tiresome. Then they met Bryce and Emily. They first saw them creeping out of the dark alley. The way they moved seemed human like but they couldn't be sure. It was an awkward meeting at first - neither could be sure if the others were zombies or had gone blood lust crazy (like some other people they'd came across). Once they established their agreement to join forces both teams were overwhelmed with joy. I think we both had been craving new human contact badly. I was a little excited to see another girl, also. I'm not interested in Emily that way at all but just to see a beautiful girl kind of cooled my tension. Emily and Bryce showed us this hideout and we have lived here ever since. A few weeks after we united Cameron came back from a raid with another new girl. She was short with black hair and beautiful blue eyes. Lindsay was alone in a foursquare supermarket when Cameron found her. A fat zombie that blocked off any chance of escape had Lindsay cornered. Cameron killed him from behind by chopping its head off with an axe (we don't have many weapons here). Apparently she burst into tears. She was eternally grateful and insisted Cameron take her back with him.

All of us have been together for about 2 months now. We do try to keep up to date with the days. I feel it's important - keep something from our old humanity.

"Want to help me Damian?" Lindsay's question brought me back to the present. She was kneading dough together with her fists. I smiled and moved around the counter so I was beside her.

"What would you like?" I asked.

"Can you get some flour? It's over there - nope not there, fourth row - yep, thanks."

I watched her hands while she kneaded the dough. She flattened it out and rolled it back together, pushing down with her fists and revolving the dough around with her fingertips. She sprinkled the flour over the bench.

"Your pretty good at that," I noticed.

"Good at what?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the dough.

"Cooking, baking. Anything to do with your hands."

She laughed lightly. "I've had a bit of practice from back home."

She'd never mentioned anything about her home life before. Cautiously I said, "Oh yeah. What sort of stuff?"

She didn't say anything for a moment and continued to knead away. I started to hope she might jump into a big speech about her family. "Are you saying you've never cooked before, Mr. McGinty?" She said in a light tone back, smiling a little.

I sighed inwardly. "Me?" I laughed. "Cook? Do you not know me? I think this might be the first time I've ever touched flour." I slid my finger through the flour and cupped it in my hand. I smirked and looked up at Lindsay. She was shaking her head moving away. A giggle escaped her lips.

"Don't you dare-" she coughed out as I splattered the flour in her face. "Damian, don't-" I took her into tight hug and wrapped my arm around her head so she was forced to kneel over. I loved to do this to Lindsay. She gets so adorably agitated. As I was about to let her go when a big spray of flour flew into my face. I coughed out and backed away spluttering. I looked up to see a huge grin spread across Lindsay's face. She had a fist full of flour and was walking towards me slowly, menacingly.

"Lindsay - I'm sorry. Don't, please!" She attempted to pour the flour down my tight singlet but my soccer agility from ten years of hardcore training had me on edge. I grabbed her arm and spun around, underneath her shoulder, forcing her arm up her back. She squirmed uncomfortably.

"Game over, Damian," she whispered, trying to turn her heads towards me. I spun her body around fast so we were face to face. She was smiling slightly with amusement. Her nose was covered in flour. She huffed loudly looking up to me with her brilliant blue eyes. She looked up at me expectantly. I stared back a little confused. I was suddenly conscious that Bryce and Cameron had gone quiet.

I turned away with a snap and walked away from her backwards. "Get that bread done. Your letting yourself get distracted." I laughed. She looked back at me like she'd just being dropped off a 20m building. The corner of her lips turned down. I backed into the couch and sat down beside Cameron. He was busy playing Last Card against Bryce. Though when he felt me sit down beside him he dropped his cards and turned around to face me. Bryce moaned and rolled over to play his own game.

"You can sleep on my mattress if you want, Damian. You definitely deserve sleep after that raid." I nodded my appreciation at Cameron and strolled over to his mattress. I collapsed down on it. It was hard on my back. I squirmed uncomfortably under the thin, smelly sheets. The smell didn't bother me much though. I was completely used to it now. I looked around at my new home. Concrete walls and concrete floor. It was usually fucking freezing at nights here, but I think my body has built up a resistance to the cold. Bryce laughs out loud as Cameron swears loudly, interrupting my thoughts. The good thing about this place; it's pretty much as zombie-proof as it gets. We are so far in nobody would ever here us. There's no windows and it's quite unlikely that a zombie would just happen to knock down the bolted door and walk for ten minutes down to our lair. We think this place used to be a private room for newly invented science experiments or something. There is an emergency shower in the corner with a picture of a little man on fire. It's an ugly room. There's no way somebody actually lived here.

Lindsay and Emily have done there best to beautify the den, though. Emily has hung drawings and paintings on the walls with dried out chewing gum (I grabbed her a paint set recently from one of my raids - she was ecstatic). Lindsay hung old curtains from run down cafes in the area across the walls. It was mess of clashing colours but subconsciously I think it lifted everyone's spirits.

I watch Lindsay in the kitchen. That's her spot. She's the cook. Emily offers all the time to help but Lindsay blatantly says no. According to Bryce it's a good thing. Emily is a terrible cook. He said when we first met, "I started to think it wasn't the zombies that were gonna kill me! She gave them a good run for their money." I liked Bryce. He was a good mix of cheerfulness and maturity. Next to me, he was the best on the raids. He got the necessaries. I think he'd keep this group going if something ever happened to me. Overall I'm rather happy with my little group. Its bad to think this way, but I feel like they are the closest thing I've ever had to family. Apart from the zombies, I could live this way forever. Smiling happily to myself I roll over and fall to sleep.

* * *

Cameron.

Damian shakes me awake. He places a chipped bowl of rices into my hands. He smiles cheerfully and walks back to Lindsay in the kitchen. I sit up on the couch and push the dirty sheets off me. My tummy grumbles from hunger, so I dig away at my cereal. On a cushion at my feet Emily sits nibbling away on a fresh piece of oven bread. I grit my teeth at the sight. I can't help it. Emily takes everything for granted. She didn't cook that bread, she didn't get any ingredients for the bread but she'll probably eat it all to herself. I kick her in the back with my foot.

"Oops, sorry Emily," I yawn and pretend I'd just had a big stretch. She eyes me suspiciously but goes back to eating her bread. I scoff down my cereal and take it over to our dirty dishes tray. It's not really a tray. It's more like a hole in the wall. Lindsay stacks everyone's dishes together from breakfast as I walk over; I was the last to wake up. I notice Damian and Bryce is sitting together at the small round table with glasses of water each. I wandered over to join them and just caught the end of Damian's comment.

"...think she'll do it though? We could leave her as look out?"

"What are we talking about?" I ask taking a seat between them.

Damian smiles and offers me his water. "We were hopping we'd all go out today. See if we can pick ourselves up toaster or microwave? Bryce and I went out early this morning to grab any random electrical appliance closest to home. We got the lamp over there," he points to a small white lamp side in the kitchen. "We plugged it into the socket-"

"And electricity still runs here!" Bryce grins. "I guess it's an emergency supply that only runs to specific quarters through out town?"

Damian nodded enthusiastically, "I can taste the toast now. Are you keen to venture out?"

Emily took a bit of convincing but Bryce managed to cool her down and we all eventually agreed to allow her to be lookout while the rest of us ran into the shop, _JB Hi-Fi_. Again, we end up taking the risks for her sake. I tried not to take my frustration out on her but it keeps building up with each new excuse.

Outside, on the raid Damian's in the lead, like always, searching the roads for zombies before assisting us all across two at a time. He runs Lindsay and Emily over, while Bryce and I tag along behind them. We keep low and run on our toes. Damian's taught us heaps of tricks about keeping quiet and secrete. Sometimes I wonder if he's been organising for this his whole life. With Damian's help the mission runs pretty smoothly. Bryce has had to take out the odd zombie with the axe on the way but ultimately it was almost too good to be true. No zombie ever got into a 5-metre radius of us. Damian didn't have to use his stubby little knife once. Bryce being the strongest carried the flash microwave and Lindsay, the toaster. We left Emily as a 'lookout' by a green garbage bin at the end of the street. As we slid out of the revolving door I could see Emily crouched over waving her hand furiously at us to hurry. Bryce gave her a quick wave to indicate that we were coming. We all looked up at Damian expectantly for him to take the lead. He told us to wait for his signal and he ran out to check if the roads were clear. A few seconds later we heard him shout out in pain.

"ARGH!" Damian's shout was more like a screech that cut me in half. Without thinking I jumped out from behind the building walls and spotted Damian on the ground with a zombie trying to snap at him from above. I ran forward and kicked the zombie in the stomach with all my strength sending him flying back a few metres. I snatched up Damian's hand and pulled him back from the three advancing zombies. If Lindsay hadn't attempted to also save Damian we may have got away unscathed. But Lindsay being Lindsay jumped out from the hiding place as soon as she heard Damian's scream. Bryce came out to re-join with Damian and I, eyes wide, looking straight past us. I turned to see a zombie slowly cornering Lindsay against an old broken down blue Chevy. It was smiling creepily. It had caught its diner. The other two advanced on us crunching on the forgotten axe as they slumped across the ground. I pulled out the mini knife and threw it into the back of the zombie near Lindsay. It groaned, but ultimately had no effect. Lindsay was crying out, shaking up against the Chevy. Damian, Bryce and I had no chance of ever getting to her. This was the end. For me at least. I prayed a silent prayer for Damian and the others to carry on and stepped out as a distraction to the zombies. They looked at me with their quizzical, munched up little faces before their face went completely blank. Three loud gun shoots went off and shook the surroundings around us. The little birds that were here flew away, frightened. All three zombies dropped to the ground dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I actually managed to finish a second chapter which is pretty good for me. Usually I get to about the fourth chapter - as you can tell from my other stories - and then totally give up. I hope that doesn't happen with this story though because I actually have a plot going on...**

**I hope this chapter flows a bit better. I'm only learning lol. Please read and review :-)**

* * *

Cameron.

I turn and look at Damian and Bryce for guidance. Was somebody shooting at us? Or were they aiming for the zombies? They look just as confused as me. I hear a gasp escapes from Lindsay's lips behind me; her eyes are wide with fear. I follow the trace of her eyes to see what's making her scared. There is movement coming from behind the car. I see a little flash of colour through the window. Lindsay jumps up and backs away from the Chevy. She scrambles over to Damian and cuddles up in his arms. He attempts to soothe her as she shakes. Feet scrap against the ground; there's a somebody behind the car. The person stands up suddenly but the sunlight is blinding; all I can see is a black silhouette standing with a fierce pose. The figure starts to move around the car. My vision starts to come into focus; it's a tall slender girl. Relief washes through me. She's very much human. Another gasp comes from behind me, probably Lindsay. I look down at the girl's hands. She's carrying two Glock17's with her fingers curled around the triggers. She drops them into two holsters around her thighs. I step back a little in alarm. There is a scuttle of feet behind me so I assume the other have done the same thing. She cocks her head to the side and smiles. She has bright, flaming red hair pulled away from her face in a tight ponytail that streams down her back. Her eyes are piercing and frightening but the cat-like green gives off a sense of innocence. I can't tell if she's threat or not. Although her smile definitely does not look sane. She walks in front of the car until she's only a metre away from me. She holds her shoulder back as she moves, walking slinky like a cat.

Damian finally finds his voice and speaks up as our leader, "Thanks for that. We were dead meat. Are you alone?" He attempts confidence, but it all comes out as a blundering mess. She barks out a bitter laugh and turns her head. She looks out towards the JB Hi-Fi entrance - where we just were. I squint and see another figure start to walk our way. At first, with the long hair I assume it's another girl but as she gets closer I see it's actually a boy with long dreads. He too is holding a gun, an AR-15. He has the same vibe as her; his gaze like fire scrutinizes us all. His dreadlocks are pushed behind his back so his face is clear. He reminds me of some modern age badass Tarzan with a gun. He makes his way over to the girl keeping his eyes locked on us. He slings the gun behind his back and stands beside her. Without an introduction he asks, "Did any of you get bitten?" His voice is just as rough as his exterior. We all shake our heads. He smiles and turns to the girl. She shakes her head also. "I'm Samuel," he motions to himself. "And this is Marissa." The red head smiles at us and gives a quick wave.

"I'm Damian," Damian walks up so he's beside me. Lindsay clings to his side like a baby monkey. "This is Lindsay, Cameron and Bryce. And we're with another girl, Emily. Are you two alone?"

Dreads leans back against the Chevy. He looks like a jerk in my opinion; like the typical dickhead guy from high school that made Damain's life a living hell. "Yeah. Marissa and I handle ourselves pretty well."

Damian nods and looks at them up a down, non-discreetly. Its pretty obvious he's impressed. I can see his brain tick over with a million thoughts as he checks out the two. They look like professional zombie killers next to us. We stand here with our little shirts and skirts, like posers. Redhead is wearing tight khaki coloured pants with pistol holsters around her thighs. On top she has a black waist length jacket. It bulges a little so I wouldn't be surprised if she had a whole lot of knifes or something stuffed under there. Dreads has the same type of pants but wears a loose pink singlet on top. He has two gun straps across his chest, like Rambo. Although he is wearing pink, the most feminine colour, I don't think any of us would dream of picking on him for it.

"I can see that," Damian says quietly. I suddenly feel totally stupid clutching my little kitchen knife. Slyly, I hide it behind my back. When I look back up Redhead's smirking at me. My move didn't go so unnoticed.

"Have you ever thought of joining forces with someone?" Damian asks in an audible whisper.

Dreads and Redhead smile at each other. "No. We haven't needed too. We're happy with each other. She doesn't get me killed, I don't get her killed."

Damian nods and shrugs his shoulders. "Well, yeah, OK," he says awkwardly. "Thanks again for saving our arse's anyway."

Samuel laughs. "You can thank Marissa for that. I thought we were going to ransack their stuff, huh?" He turns to Redhead with an eyebrow raised. Great, so they were originally planning to take our stuff and watch us die at the hands of the zombies. What heroes.

She shrugs her shoulders, "Did you really expect me to let the girl die?"

Lindsay squirms uncomfortably. She tugs on Damian and I's shirt. "We should leave," I hear her whisper in Damian's ear.

Damian ignores her and turns back to Dreads. "That was really cool of you anyway. See, we probably - most definitely - would have died. Do you think - uh - we should unite? Us last survivors got to stick together, right? We have a hideout with plenty of space. You could stay with us, while still doing your own thing?" A small growl comes from Lindsay, heard by everyone.

Dreads smiles politely but shakes his head. "We like to do our own thing. It's easier, you know? Thanks for the offer though. Maybe we'll see you again sometime along the track."

Damian smiles back with a shrug of his shoulders. "That's cool. Good luck out there." Dreads salutes with a grin and turns away down the road where Emily is hiding in anticipation. Redhead stays where she is, her eyebrows screwed together. She pulls one of the Glock17s out of her holsters and throws it to Damian. He catches it straight on.

"You might need this." Dreads turns around at the sound of her voice, his eyes tight staring hard at Damian. He grabs Redhead's hand and with one arm on the small of her back, drags her away. As they walk away Dreads leans over and whispers something in Redheads ear. "The safety lock's on by the way," she calls and then they both start to run until they are out of sight.

I turn to Damian, "We should get home." I feel a little bitter. Dreads and Redhead were a bit standoffish. They only think they're better than us because they have a few fancy guns.

"This might come in handy," Damian smiles down at the gun, flipping it around in his fingers. Bryce walks over and takes the gun from Damian's hands, "I used to go hunting all the time back home. God, I've missed the _touch._" They take turns at pretending to shoot people and reloading it. They look like a couple of children on Christmas morning.

I know I'd never hold that gun. Or shoot somebody with it, even if it was a zombie. Its goes against all my morals. Lindsay scowls from a distance with her hands on her hips. She turns her head to look at me. She sees her distaste reflected on my face and walks over.

She grabs my hand, maybe a bit too tightly, "Damian we'll meet you back at the house so you guys can have some time to play with your new toy," Lindsay snaps. Damian waves his hand dismissively. Lindsay growls quietly and drags me down the road. She gives a wave to Emily at the bottom of the road who returns one anxiously.

Lindsay starts to mutter to me. I can barely hear what she's saying, "Who is she to give us a gun? Does it look like we need a gun? We are doing absolutely fine. Thank God they didn't agree to join up with us. She would tear apart our house and put bloody porn and war-"

"Porn?" I grin at Lindsay and laugh. Lindsay ignores me and carries on.

"I bet she doesn't even know how to use a gun. She was just trying to show off like a little whore. I bet if she could she would get her dirty hands all over Damian and you too if you weren't careful. But you're too smart for that. I should take that gun and throw it away. It's just going to give us more grief than it's worth."

"Lindsay you're starting to sound a little jealous," I laugh.

"You would think that, Cameron wouldn't you? Your just the same as them." She gives my shoulder a shove and with a final diva glare she runs down the road to Emily. Bloody women and their pride. I turn back around and walk towards Damian and Bryce.

* * *

Lindsay.

Those boys are so stupid. Its getting dark outside and they still haven't come home. I expect more from Damian. I thought he was a responsible, true leader. I'm getting rid of that gun as soon as they put it down. And thank the lord Emily agrees with me. We don't usually talk that much even though we're the only girls in the house but occasionally we have these moments when we just click.

I walk back over to her on the couch with the packet of crisps. I pop it open and stuff a hand full in my mouth.

"Lets be honest, we can't have anymore girls in the group," Emily says taking the bag from my hand.

"I know! Like, we get along fine but if we add one more girl she'll try sex up all the boys then there will be fights between them and we are the only ones that can keep this family intact."

Emily nods and says with a mouth full of chips. "I knew that girl would be a whore even from where I was sitting. I saw the way she swung her hips and flicked her hair. She was trying to seduce them and steal them."

I dismiss the middle part seeing as Emily pretty much described herself and carried on. "They aren't a bowl of lollies. You can't take your pick and leave them to rot. We're the only ones who can keep them wrapped."

Emily stretches out on the couch. "Its probably a good thing I wasn't there. I would of beat the shit out of that chica."

"I wish you were," I say with a smile. Emily giggles and hits me on the shoulder playfully.

"Me too." We fall into a mountain of laughter until we're interrupted by a huge bang. The boys are making a racket as they stumble through the corridor. Typical.

Bryce wanders through the door first. His feet are flailing all over the place as he walks. "Oooooooh! How we doin' ladieeeees?"

I jump off the chair in alarm. "God, Bryce what's wrong with you?" I grab his shoulders and let him down softly on the couch. He squirms in my arms and try's to get back up. "Emily hold him still," I huff.

Emily grabs his shoulders as Damian stumbles into the room followed by Cameron. "What have you boys been doing? Where's that fucking gun," I snap.

"Heeeeeeeera!" Damian calls spinning the gun around his finger. I snatch it from him and lock it in the top drawer in the kitchen.

"Lindsay!" Emily calls. "I smell liquor on Bryce's fucking breath!" Those stupid assholes. They are always getting into shit. I look over at Cameron. He stands patiently by the table watching Damian with a smile. At least he's sober. He catches me staring at him and he puts his hands together in a prayer position.

_Sorry_, he mouths. He looks down at the floor with a huge guilty look on his face. I scowl at him and grab Damian - who was swinging his arms around shouting "I'm a butterfly, no one can catch me!" - by the scruff of his neck and chuck him on the couch beside Bryce. They squirm around hitting each other with childish giggles.

"SHUT IT!" I scream and stamp my foot. They look up at me with beady little bloodshot eyes. "You are all stupid little fuckers. I can't believe you'd all be so dumb as to get wasted with a gun when zombies are wandering around. Remember zombies? Those things that eat you! You have probably lead a herd of them right into our hide-out!"

"We haven't Lindsay, I checked-" Cameron says quietly. I silence him with a glare.

Damian and Bryce nod their heads in unison, their eyes locked on mine in fear.

Emily takes over with more sass. "You guys can never leave this house again because we can't fucking trust you! Bryce-" Bryce curls up on the couch his head buried in Damain's armpit. I tried not to smile at the sight. They did look kind of cute on that couch. "I would have thought you would have some common sense. Maybe one of you should have died! It would teach you a fucking lesson, wouldn't it? Now I want you all to go to bed and fucking sleep off the alcohol. You will stay completely quiet or I'll come over there and beat the living crap out of you. Got it?"

No one moves. "GO!" Emily shouts. They jump up and frantically run around the room collapsing onto each of their assigned beds. Cameron looks over at me with a pleading face.

"We'll take about it tomorrow," I growl. He nods and wanders over to his bed and cowers under the sheets. Over at Bryce's bed his long limbs are hanging off the side of the mattress and his head is buried deep into the pillow. I sigh with a smile and wander over to him. Without letting him see my smirk I fix the pillow and lay the sheets over his body. His feet stick out the end still. Emily takes the couch and gives me a small smile as I walk to the door. I shut it and push the block over the handle. I move over to the kitchen and turn off all the lights apart from the small lamp on the bench. I try to avoid eye contact with Damian as I walk to my bed. I can see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I can't resist. I turn to look at him with a pout so he knows I'm still angry. The lamp illuminates his face so I can see his cute little smile. Only his face can be seen from under the sheets.

_What do you want?_ I mouth. He motions me over with a sad puppy look on his face.

_No_, I shake my head and wander over to my bed. I slip under the single sheet. This bed is so uncomfortable and cold. I haven't slept in it for ages. Since two weeks ago I've been sleeping in Damian's bed every night. One night he saw I was shivering so he picked me right up, took me to his bed and curled up against me. Apparently my teeth chattering was keeping him up. Sleeping with Damian is so much warmer and I always feel safe beside him. Damian gives me a sense of security that I've never felt in my whole life. Especially not at home. I squirm around uncomfortable for a while before giving in. I grab the sheet and walk over to Damian. His eyes are open; he was waiting for me. He smiles and pulls up the sheets for me to slip in. I squeeze under the sheets and curl my body around his. I fit in perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle. He sighs in comfort. His breath is warm on my neck.

"Can't resist, can you?" he whispers.

"Shut up," I laugh. "You're wasted." He's right though. I can never resist. Ever.

* * *

Bryce.

_Crunch, crunch, crunch._

I wake up suddenly and instantly feel like someone is pounding a hammer into my skull. I attempt to open my eyes but they are crusted over. I rub my cheeks with my hands to warm up the muscles. Licking my dry lips I sit up from my bed and pull my eyes open to look around the room. I find the source of noise; Emily is sitting on the couch crunching away at some cornflakes. Each crunch sounds like a firework that has gone off in the room. It pounds against my ears. I stumble over to her and with a shove against her shoulder first; I sit down.

"Do you have to chew so loudly?" I growl, rubbing my forehead with the palm of my hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Emily says sarcastically. "WAS I KEEPING YOU UP?"

I cringe away from her and curl over in a fetish position on the couch. _Bitch._

"Shut up. Both of you," Lindsay calls from the kitchen. God, seriously a pin drop could burst my eardrums right now. My mouth is dry, body is tired and brain feels like its made of tissue. I am dead on my feet. And suddenly a flash comes back to me: bent over the bar bench belching into the sink before jumping on Damian's back for a joy ride. Oh crap. We are in so much shit. I jump up off the chair and nonchalantly stroll over to the kitchen like nothings wrong. If I act normal maybe I won't have to face the wrath of Lindsay.

"You're not fooling anyone, Bryce. Your feet a wobbling like an old man," Lindsay scowls.

I sigh, "Can I please just have a panadol?"

Lindsay barks a cruel evil laugh.

"Sit down," she points over to the kitchen table where a very guilty faced Damian and Cameron are sitting. I walk over, head down, tail between my legs. They don't speak as I approach but Damian smiles at me. It's not a happy smile; it's an 'it was good knowing you' smile. I sit down in the chair and wait patiently for my fate. I've only been the target behind one of Lindsay's rages once. To this day I can't mention the events without getting a little teary. It was single handedly one of the scariest moments in my life.

Eventually, Lindsay cleans up all the dishes in which feels like years and walks over to us. Better to get it over with now. It's like a howler from Harry Potter. Best not to leave it to long because she'll just build up with more ideas.

Lindsay sighs and paces backwards and forwards. She stops and looks up at Cameron.

"So, Cameron seeing as you weren't as idiotic as these two," she motions to Damian and I. "Can you tell me what really went on last night?"

Cameron clears his throat and with an insure glance towards Damian he rambles, "Well you and Emily left to go home and Damian and Bryce were really excited about the gun and they wanted to test it out. So we all agreed to hunt down a pack of zombies," Lindsay's jaw drops and her brows screws together. Cameron carries on like he didn't notice, "and Damian and Bryce shot them down like Tin cans in seconds. We weren't in any trouble at all. Believe me." I take a second to sink back in glory at our zombie attack. We took them down like toy fucking soldiers.

"So Bryce suggested a celebration was in order-" I glare at Cameron. He's totally going to blame this thing on me. "And Damian agreed so obviously, reluctantly I joined them. We came across a bar completely zombie free - it had no broken windows or nothing - and starting taking a few drinks. Ten shots later they were completely off their face. Trust me, even I didn't see it coming! One minute hunky dory, next second Damian was trying to smash a glass bottle of vodka across my butt."

Damian starts to laugh at the memory but thinks twice about it and sinks back into silence.

"I figured it would be worse if I left them unsupervised with a gun so I stayed and kept them out of trouble. They got into a few fights with zombies-"

"What?" Emily screeches from the couch. Until now I had no idea she was listening. "One of you could be bitten!"

I quickly scan my skin. I can't remember this fight going down. Just a big black blur of nothing last night is.

"Non-contact fight, I promise. They just threw a lot of things at them. So I finally managed to get them to agree to come home. It was a mission though, I tell you. They kept spying crashed taco stands and insisted we buy one."

Lindsay taps her foot expectantly. "Well is that it?"

Cameron looks uneasy, "Well... yeah."

Lindsay sighs and starts to pace again. She's like a gazelle; planning out her attack.

"Bryce," I cringe. "This was your idea to drink?" I nod but she hardly notices as she's already sucked into her head. "And when this thought crossed your mind did it not occur to you to be completely stupid? Mind bottling retarded? What moron on this Earth would ever think to get wasted while zombies roam all streets? I guess only you." She laughs sarcastically. There's no humor behind the laugh, just pure evil. In no way am I over exaggerating. "Do you know what the consequences could be? Do you not know how your one decision could have effected us all?" She stops; she seems to be waiting for an answer.

I don't risk my voice. It would come out all squeaky and high pitched which is just embarrassing. Instead I shake my head.

"I'll tell you how: If you had picked a fight with a herd of zombies you could have gotten Damian or Cameron killed. One of you could be bitten and you'd come back all happy and excited and then transform over night and we'd all be woken up to you sucking our brains out. You would have killed us all. We wouldn't be protected in anyway. You could have murdered your own sister!"

Over at the couch Emily nods in agreement. What a suck up.

"I actually feel sick to the stomach for ever trusting you. I actually contemplated last night kicking you out but then you would probably burn our hide-out down wouldn't you?" God, she's laying it on a bit thick. I'm not that stupid. "You are always the butt-headed ring leader who manages to find away to endanger everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if you caused the whole zombie apocalypse single handedly." _That's right; blame the whole worlds disasters on Bryce._

"Damian," thank God she's moved on from me, though. "Why would you agree to this?" Her voice turned from bitter distaste to a more soothing disappointment. Of course Damian gets it easy. "You are so much smarter than this. I thought you would put a stop to it straight away. I'm so disappointed in you and if there is ever a next time I'm going to hold you personally responsible."

With a last huff she turns to Cameron, "Don't be a fucking doormat."

She's stare's at us all pointedly then marches to the kitchen. We sit for a few seconds in silence taking it all in before I whisper, "She's got you there, Cameron."

He hits me on the shoulder with a cold grin, "Just shut up."

I lean back in the chair and stretch, "I can't believe she took it easy on us. I thought we were goners."

"Lindsay's not that bad," Damian reasons.

I laugh. "Are you kidding me? I love Linds but she's a cold hearted bitch at the best of times."

"That's a little uncalled for I think," Damian says bitterly.

"Come on, Damo! Your only saying that 'cause she went easy on you," I pat him jokingly on the shoulder. "What if she'd said the things she said to me, to you? Would she still be an 'easy going' chick?"

The chair scraps across the ground as he jumps up suddenly. He glares down at me, his fist clenched and I was sure for a second he was going to punch me in the face. He sighs and drops his hands, "Maybe everything she said to you is true." He stalks over to the kitchen and immediately starts helping Lindsay in the kitchen. So he's a suck up too. He starts doing that touchy thing he always does with Lindsay; where he flicks her nose or leans over her back so his head is resting on her shoulder. He is just like Emily, seriously. He can't call me out on being an 'asshole' when he is just as worse. The way he carries on around Lindsay, plays with her emotions, pretends like they have something going on. I know very well Lindsay is head over heels for Damian. It's obvious to everyone - but Damian. He doesn't recuperate her feelings but he still continues to drag her along. If anyone is, its him who's going to screw up our family.

I turn to Cameron, "What's up with him?"

Cameron shrugs his shoulders with a sigh. "Extra sensitive?"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I have been crazy sick these last few weeks but I've attempted to write another chapter. Hope it goes alright... Writing late at night while sick is not a good combo.**

**I know its taking ages to introduce all the characters but it will happen. I have a plan for everyone, season one and two but its probably going to take a long time to get them all in the story haha...**

**Anyways, please read and review!**

* * *

Bryce.

I have to escape. I have to escape right now. Two whole fucking weeks I've been trapped in this hell of a place and I desperately need a run. Sitting outside for five minutes is not fresh air. I want to complain so badly; but Lindsay is pretty much the leader of the house now. She must see that she needs to take us off house arrest now though? The food supplies are getting so low. She's going to have to send out a group party sooner or later. And when she does I'm going to run out that door so fast my feet will bleed.

She gave in quicker than I thought though. She's a hard nut so I thought she would hang on till the last string but eventually she called us all in for a meeting.

"We need to go on a group raid," Lindsay sighs. I smile in triumph. Free at last. "We are running very low on food at the moment so I don't think just me running out there by myself is going to be enough." Oh, prays the lord. I struggle to contain my excitement. I hope we get to leave today! "So two others will accompany me tomorrow on a raid."

And then my world sinks around me. Only two others. That means Cameron and Damian obviously. Fuck this mother fucking shit. Damian and Cameron are smiling eagerly like they don't know whom she's going to pick.

"Obviously I'm going to pick the most trustworthy. So in that case... Damian and Cameron," she says with a pity look in my direction. Bitch. Damian and Cameron high five and cheer completely forgetting me, who is trapped in this horrible house for another week. I feel like I've sucked all the air out of the room. I feel my checks go red with anger. I quickly walk to the kitchen so nobody can see my face. Nobody notices anyway. Damian, Cameron and Lindsay are too excited about their trip. They chat to each other, excitedly planning their mission. I rest my head against the counter and try to cool down.

But I just can't. They do this to me every time. They think they can shit all over me just because I'm the cool guy who never takes things too seriously but I've had enough. I would run away if I could. I just feel like I can't leave Emily. As much as she gets on my nerves, she's my sister and I can't abandon her.

I sigh. I guess another week of suffering isn't too bad. It could be worse.

* * *

Marissa.

Samuel creepily speeds up, the wind blowing through his dreads. He grins wickedly as the truck bumps over rubbish and the occasional zombie on the road. I wind down my window so I can feel the breeze against my face. This is something I've come to love because of Sam. I drop my tongue out of my mouth like a dog and close my eyes against the cool breeze. There is a strong smell of rubbish in the air but I'm used to it by now. I smell it everywhere. Sam chuckles beside me. I turn to see him looking down at me.

"What?" I say mock defensive. He shakes his head and turns back smiling at the road. "Ugh, I can smell zombies," I say winding the window back up, my nose curled up in distaste.

"Smells like a lot of them," Sam agrees. I hate the smell of zombies. It makes me feel sick. It's like rotting skin and burnt flesh mixed with shit. I've smelt it so much I could recognize it from miles away. Samuel swings the car around a sharp corner and sticks his head out the window sniffing. I squint in the direction of the sun. In front of us the road starts to dip down. Vaguely, I see the top of some heads, as we get closer. It looks like a crowd of zombies who have caught some sort of prey. The bodies start to get clearer as I make out a group of people enclosed in the middle of a herd of zombies. I open my door slightly and step out. I pull myself slowly on top of the car roof to get a better view. The zombies are closing in on three humans. Samuel see's this too and speeds up. As we get closer I start to make out a girl and two guys. I squint slightly and see a tall recognizable boy with blonde hair. I gasp and drag myself back inside the car.

"Pump on the gas, Sam! It's those people we meet a few weeks back!" At my words Sam speeds up, racing towards the zombies. As we got closer he drives over a bunch of zombies making a clear path for me to open the back door.

"Damian!" The Irish brunette turns in shock. His eyes quickly scan over me in the front seat then Sam at the wheel before grabbing the girl who's name I can't remember and calling over to the other boy. Sam continues to drift the car knocking zombies over as he goes. Damian and the others take a jumping leap into the car one after the other before slamming the door shut behind them. The zombies grab at the car attempting to smash the windows but Sam speeds off down the road getting as far away from the zombies as possible. I shut my door and turn to the back of the car, huffing. The three look beaten to hell. Damian looks less shocked so I speak to him first.

"Are you alright?"

He nods, "Guess we have to thank you again. I think we're all ok." He turns to the girl beside him and whispers to her, rubbing her back. She nods as tears slowly fall down her panic-stricken face.

I look at the other boy with the glasses. "None of you got bitten, did you?"

"No, we're fine," he says a little bitterly, eyeing me suspiciously. I glare at him confused and turn back to Damian.

"I don't know what happened," Damian says glancing anxiously at the others. "I guess we were causing to much noise then all of sudden one zombie was there, then another one, then another one until we were surrounded in them."

"They are starting to get really desperate," I nod. He smiles up at me with crinkly eyes.

"You always get there at the right time. We can't thank you enough," Damian says, his eyes start to water slightly. God, I really can't deal with sappy stuff. I turn back around and Sam takes the lead by turning on the back of his chair. His eyes are off the road but he still drives fine. "Happy to help. Do you get into a lot of trouble, then?"

The girl scoffs through her tears, "Hardly."

Damian knocks her, "No but whenever we do you always seem to be there to help. We owe you our lives twice, now."

Sam shakes his head and turns back to the road, "Seriously don't mention it."

There is an awkward pause before Damian speaks, "You can stop here, if you like. I'm sure we'll be fine now. Seriously, that was just a one off."

Sam coughs distractedly, "I'll drive you all home." Oh, Sam. So he does have a heart. I knock him on the shoulder playfully.

Damian looks overwhelmed with joy. "Oh thank you! That's more than enough. You know the old Wal-Mart, we live about there?"

Sam nods and smiles but only I can see his face. We sit in silence after that. They all seem pretty shaken up, too shaken up to talk. I would be too, I suppose. They were inches away from death. Death by zombie, at that. Being eaten alive would be terrible. I hear a few whispers in the back between Damian and the girl. The girl seems to need constant reassurance. I rest my head against the window and watch the road fly pass. A few awkward silent minutes later Sam stops the car in the middle of the road. I look out the window at the Wal-Mart Damian was talking about. It's sad to see what's happened to the place. The windows smashed in, paint peeling off the walls; people once came here with their families and now it's in ruins like the rest of the world. Sam gets out of the car and I follow in lead. I shut the door and turn to the glasses boy who'd just crawled out of the car.

"Lovely home you have here," I joke. He nods and walks away without looking at me. I stalk over to the other side of the car. What's that guy's problem? Damian smiles at me and glides forward with the girl clinging to his side.

"We can't thank you enough," he looks down at the girl anxiously. "You guys can come in and have a look, if you like?" The girl moans and with a stomp of her foot turns away and storms after the boy with glasses. Damian laughs nervously. "Look, your welcome to come. Forget about those two."

I smirk. Well if that girl doesn't want me to go, I'd love too. "Show us the way."

Damian looking pleased turns around and motions for us to follow him. Samuel looks at me with a 'what are we doing?' face. I nod with encouragement and grab his hand. I'll pretend I'm just interested in seeing how these people live in comparison to us. It will be a lie and Sam, of course, will see straight through it. Never mind. The real reason I'm dragging Sam into these people's home - I want to piss that girl off. Sad, but true.

There is a little but of truth to it though; we are always on the move trying to find someone or something, I don't know what it's like to live in a union. I'm never quite sure what Sam and I are doing together. Of course, I'm utterly thankful he took me under his wing; it's just the other day Sam finally found his home here in Ohio. His parent's car was there but the bloodstains down the walls made it pretty obvious they were gone. I didn't know what to say to him or how to act around him. He just turned around and we left again. He'd travelled all this way and his family was gone. The way he dismissed the whole thing makes me feel like I really don't know him at all. I don't know anything about his old life, but I've always felt like we shared some special bond and now all of a sudden it feels fake. I know when I first met him we made a pack to keep our old lives private but curiosity itches at me all the time. What made him so hard against life?

I'm dragged back out of my thoughts of Samuel when we finally reach a small door at the bottom of a long alleyway. Damian smiles at us and wrenches it open. I pull Sam in and walk down the only long dark corridor in front of me. Behind us I hear the slam and jerk of Damian pulling the iron door close. It puts the corridor into complete darkness. The place sends shivers down my arms and legs but I'm not frightened; besides I can see a little light at the end of the corridor.

"Be warned," Damian says behind us. "The others will probably get a big fright." Samuel and I laugh. It's about a ten-minute walk until we finally start to close in on the light. It's another door into another noisy room. The black-haired girl stands waiting at the door. She looks at me in obvious distaste before walking through the door.

"Where are they?" A screeching woman's voice shouts. Damian steps in front of Samuel and I. He looks at us apologetically and walks inside. Samuel looks down at me eyebrows raised. He lets go of my hand and with a sigh walks inside. I follow straight after him. The first thing I notice is a bright room with horribly clashing colors across the walls. I smile as I look from the small mattress beds to the set up kitchen in the corner.

The boy with glasses clears his throat behind me. I jump in shock; I hadn't seen him there. "Good enough for you?" he says glaring down at me.

"Its brilliant," I smile. He storms off towards his friends. Oh how he hates my cheerfulness. I do think its brilliant, though. It's like a real home. It's ugly, yes, but its warm and inviting. I walk around the room and smile at all the little knick-knacks they have sprinkled around the room. A superman bobble head, a set of cards, crane origami, a painting of some ducklings and even a super bowl t-shirt. I'm so distracted by the rooms brightness I didn't realize Samuel and I's presence had stirred an uproar.

In the middle of the room by two sets of couches, two girls were throwing their arms around shouting and pointing between Damian and I. The dark skinned girl notices me looking at her. I flash a smile and wave. This aggravates her to no end. I laugh as she storms over to me shouting crazy words I can't understand.

"Speak English-" I begin but before I get my sentence out she puts both her hands on each of my shoulders and shoves me backwards. Without thinking, as she attempts to punch me in the face I dodge it and send my own first flying at her stomach. I catch myself before hitting flesh to flesh and give her a quick shoulder shove away from me. She stumbles backwards, growling through her teeth. In the short time it took her to recover Damian had quickly wrapped his arms around the brown skinned girl. Samuel was at my side in seconds; he put himself between the girl and me his eyes burning with anger. I grab his arm and pull him back, cautiously.

"Emily! Chill, would you? Let me explain!" Damian shouts pushing, the brown skinned girl, Emily, onto the couch. A big, muscular boy who looks quite similar to Emily holds her down.

She squirms around in his arms, "Damian how could you bring her back here? This is our home!" I notice she said 'her' not 'them'.

"I think this is nothing to do with them. I think you're just being jealous!" The big boy shouts over the girl's head.

The other black-haired girl turns on him now," Jealous?! Bryce, who do you think you are? You wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Emily so, shut it!"

That comment seemed to have touched a nerve in the boy but nobody notices him drop his head. Damian throws his hands in the air with a frustrated yell.

"Lindsay, please for me, just let me talk," Damian pleads and with that Lindsay sighs and nods. Emily beside her goes slack and the fire in her eyes cools a little.

"Lindsay you were there so you know how great these guys were to have saved us! I only wanted to show them our home-"

Samuel cuts in, "Look we can leave. We're obviously not wanted."

"You got that right chica," Emily mutters with a cruel laugh.

Glasses boy crosses the room and sits on the armchair beside Lindsay. "And then what are you going to do, Damian? Take a another gun from them?" Lindsay nods in agreement and grabs the boy's leg with a smile.

"Is that what this is about? You hate me because I gave you a gun?" my voice rises so I'm almost yelling.

Lindsay stands up to retort but Damian quickly cuts in, "No of course they don't hate you-"

"It wasn't up to you! If we wanted a gun we would have one-" Lindsay growls pushing Damian out of the way.

"I was trying to help you! Zombies were going to eat you! I'm so sorry, next time I'll just sit back and watch them suck your brains out-"

"WE DON'T NEED YOU!" Lindsay has a surprising loud voice for such a smile girl.

The room goes silent. Everyone's mouth pops open in shock. I know I'm stepping it but I can't help but let out a cruel snicker. Lindsay sits down on the couch with a blank face. She even surprised herself with that explosion.

Damian turns to us with an awkward smile, "Sorry, look I just wanted to say thank you. If you need a place to sleep-"

Samuel shakes his head, "No, we're fine. Thanks anyway. Doesn't look like that would go down very well anyway."

Damian nods with understanding. I quickly speak up without thinking, "Samuel, just one night? We are always sleeping in that car." As I speak I look over at Lindsay with a smirk. She looks back at me in complete shock; I'm over stepping the mark. Really, I can't believe what I'm doing either.

Samuel looks down at me in surprise. Usually I give him time to think this sort of thing over privately before making a decision. Although I mostly just want to piss Lindsay off a little part of me really has an overwhelming urge to sleep in a house - a home. "I'm sick of the back pain from that bloody truck." Well that's what I say out loud anyway. Inside I'm smiling at the prospect of kicking Emily out of her bed.

"Its really no trouble," Damian says, unmistakably thrilled.

Samuel looks down at the plead in my eyes and finally he regrettably nods. And with that the two girls storm across the room and out the door. Damian awkwardly looks at us and back to the door the girls left out of. Eventually he sits down and motions us to do the same thing. Samuel and I take a seat on the opposite couch. I take the seat closest to the glasses boy. He looks at me bitterly and storms to the kitchen, though he still sits back and listens from the counter.

"What are your names again?" Samuel asks in his politest voice.

"I'm Bryce," the big boy says with a wave "I apologize on behalf of my sister, Emily. Honestly, she is just jealous."

I smile, of course they're just jealous.

"Damian," Damian motions at himself. "and this is Cameron," he points to the boy in the kitchen. Cameron turns around bitterly so his back is towards us.

"I'm Samuel and Marissa," Samuel introduces.

Damian nods, "I remember. Look I am really sorry about Lindsay and Emily. It's just the whole gun thing, ya know-"

"If it's causing you so much trouble, I can take it back," I offer.

Bryce shakes his head vigorously, "Don't do that. I love that gun. The girls will get over themselves eventually."

* * *

Cameron.

I know I'm being immature. I feel a little guilty being so hostile towards guests but this girl is asking for it. It's obvious she's only staying the night to get a rise out of Lindsay and Emily. Damian's sucking it all up though. He's listening intently to all their thrilling stories of different zombie defeats. Secretly, I'm listening too from in the kitchen. Some of the things they have done are literally amazing and other things - just plain disgusting. Although I'd never do anything like the things they do myself it's still interesting to listen to the situations they have escaped from. They seem to have lives jammed packed with action...

I drift out of focus from listening to Samuels story and notice Lindsay and Emily haven't came home yet. I wonder what they're doing? They're probably just sitting outside the hideout grumbling to each other about how "slutty" Redhead is. I think the girls are taking the whole insult thing too far even if Redhead is giving them reason too.

"Then Marissa - who was scrabbling around for any type of sharp object she could find - picked up this broken piece of glass and literally dived on the back of the zombie, rolled it off my body and stabbed it in the throat. The mess was horrific. If you've ever seen zombie blood you'd know how sticky it is. It was all over our clothes. It took me two weeks to get it all out of my hair," Samuel laughs, thinking back to the closest moment to death he's ever come too.

Damian and Bryce who are sucked into the story take turns at asking questions.

"How did you learn to fight?" Damian asks leaning forward on his chair, eyes wide.

"I've been in military training since I was twelve," Samuel says dismissively. "I learnt most of the basic stuff there but since then I've taught myself to put everything I've learned and change it for a zombie opponent rather than a human."

Redhead looks up at him smiling slightly, "How long we're you alone on the road for?"

"Everyone in the military discovered the whole zombie thing when an infected person wandered into our campus. Most people just freaked out and ran away in groups back to their families. I left by myself. I wasn't really sure what to do. My family had sentenced me to military school nine years ago; I wasn't too keen to see them again, zombie apocalypse or not. But with nowhere to go I eventually decided to head home. Things were really bad when I got out of camp. We were isolated through out the spread of infection so by the time I got out of camp; the world had flipped upside down completely. I still remember the last day I ever saw the world as a normal place ten years ago..." Samuel looks away from everyone in thought. Without thinking I slowly walk over to the couch and sit beside Damian. Nobody notices me come back though; they are too busy listening to Samuel. Samuel looks back over at us, his eyes shinning in the light. His eyes glaze over with the resurrection of memories.

"I can remember every detail of my last bus ride to camp. My parents had expectantly dropped me off at the bus station and sent me away without letting me say goodbye to my brothers. I was in horrible angst the whole way there. I spent the whole time thinking of ways to ruin my mother's life. I came up with burning all her play scripts then snapping her music records," Samuel takes a moment to laugh at his twelve year old self.

"If I had known then that that was my last day to ever see the world in it's perfect state I would have-" Samuel voice stops and he swallows back what is probably tears. Nobody says anything. We sit silently taking in all his words. I've never thought of the world as a destroyed place. The way he speaks; it's like he has no faith left. God will restore the world to its proper place. How can Samuel think there's no hope left? Redhead grabs Samuels hand quietly, her eyes misted over and mind deep in thought. Listening to his family life makes me feel guilty for complaining about mine. How selfish of me to think I'm the only one who's had it hard. So my parents are dead, his probably are too. At least mine didn't send me away for ten years of my childhood. Damian sits back beside me and sighs. He's probably thinking about his parents. Last I heard they were in California. Damian never got along with his parents so I don't like to ask about them. All I know about his relationship with his parents is apparently he was just a huge disappointment in their eyes. I remember his mother complaining to mine about Damian not caring about grades and his culture and instead spending time socializing with friends. Damian never had friends. He was spending every Sunday at the town library to get away from his pressurizing parents. They grounded him eventually and after that he spent every waking moment becoming Damian the doctor.

Samuel coughs awkwardly and goes on with his story to all of our anticipation, "I had no transportation to get home as I was practically in prison up till that point so I hijacked a car and headed straight for Ohio. I soon realized that I needed some weaponry so I spent a lot of time trying to find a house where a gun obsessed freak had lived. Eventually, instead, I found a truck - the one I have now - smashed up against a power pole. Inside, packed in the boot was gun galore. I guess the guy who owned her was prepared for the zombie apocalypse but chocked. A few weeks down the road I met Marissa-"

Redhead laughed playfully, "Which is a story for another day."

Samuel nodded thoughtfully, "Since then we've slowly made our way here so I could find my family-"

A high screech interrupts the story suddenly, "What are you doing?!" I quickly jump off the couch in shock. Lindsay is standing, fuming at the door looking straight at Damian. "Having a chat, are we?"

Damian stands up, "Look Lindsay they are staying here for one night. We owe them; they saved our lives. Yours too!"

Lindsay glares at Damian, like a powerful lion taking on a skinny gazelle. But Damian stands his ground. Brave boy. Lindsay sighs. "Fine," she storms to the kitchen and starts to prepare diner. Emily follows her giving Damian a quick diva glare.

They never stray from he kitchen all night. After diner everyone starts preparing for bed. It's too awkward to start up another conversation.

Lindsay, too mad at Damian to sleep with him takes the couch with Emily. Samuel and Redhead eventually end up taking my bed. Lindsay was in no way going to let them use her bed and I figured Damian was right; they did save our lives, it's the least we can do.

I roll over on Lindsay's mattress. No wonder she's always sleeping with Damian, this thing is so uncomfortable! Maybe if I had my airplane pillow... I slowly, quietly crawl out of bed. It's dark, but I can still make out my occupied bed closest to the kitchen. I wander over making sure not to step on Bryce's face. I skip all the mattresses with ease and kneel down beside my own. I silently reach out for my pillow making sure not to grab anybody's leg.

"What are you doing?" someone growls suspiciously from my left.

I drop the pillow in shock and step back. I look up at Samuels's muddled face. He's leaning up against the wall completely out of the bed.

"Just grabbing my pillow," I whisper quietly.

I look over at the top of the mattress. Redhead is curled up at the top with tears streaked down her face. Her chest lifts and drops as she breaths indicating she's asleep. Little snores can be heard silently.

"What's wrong with her?"

Samuel shakes his head. "Nothing." His voice is matter-o-factly. I stand up and awkwardly walk back to Lindsay's mattress. How _weird_ was that...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I haven't posted in a long time. I've been so busy its insane with exams and study but here's the next chapter. Hope it runs smoothly with no spelling mistakes! Sorry, still no season two characters yet but they're coming.**

**Also i'm wondering, do you think these chapters are too long? I don't know if people like to read short ones or whatever...**

**Please read and _review_. It means a lot. :-)**

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Lindsay.

I assume it's morning now. My minds been running with thoughts all night. I know I'm going to pay the price of not sleeping later on but for now, never mind. I sit up and raise myself off the couch in attempt to stretch out my aching body. Even if my mind wasn't on overload last night I wouldn't have been able to sleep with Emily's knee in my back. It really isn't a big couch even for one person. Me and my stupid pride. I should have just slept with Damian. I was dying to join him all through out the night. I just feel way too guilty to even look at him. I've been such a bitch to him these last few weeks and I continue to act like he's the one in the wrong. He should be the one angry at me. I'm surprised he even asked me if I wanted to share his bed last night. I didn't reply to him. I just stormed off in my diva way. I just can't think clearly with that redhead in the room. My thoughts cloud up with jealousy and I act out against everyone else. Yes, I finally admit it. I'm jealous of the girl. Why wouldn't I be? She's tall, slender, drop dead gorgeous but she also has that rebel side that the boys can relate too. If I were Damian I'd probably be kissing the ground at her feet. It's not like he isn't though. I sigh, and crack my fingers out roughly. I make my way over to the kitchen and turn on the side lamp. Everyone's still asleep and I don't feel like waking people up for company today. I start up my usual routine of preparing breakfast for everyone. I take out seven plates from the bottom drawer. Making breakfast for everyone is a good start to apologizing. To Damian, that is. I don't think I owe the Redhead an apology, as she was being just as rude to me as I was to her. It's going to be awkward saying goodbye to them when they leave though. I think I'll pretend to go dry the washing when they do. I just really don't want to see Damian giving her a hug goodbye. She'll just smirk at me from behind his back and maybe even suggest she stay another night. Ugh, the only reason she annoys me so much (apart from the obvious jealous thing) is because she patronizes me. I know I'm young but I'm not stupid. I can see it now; she'll treat me like a little schoolgirl with a crush on the teacher. Damian and I aren't that far apart in age. It's the end of the world anyway. All sorts of people get together when the Earth is ceasing to exist. I have to remind myself that it's not all up to me though. It's up to Damian too. There are two people in a relationship not one and I don't think he likes me the way I like him. Even if the new sexy redhead wasn't here to steal his attention I don't think he'd date me anyway. I embarrass myself all the time giving him massive hints that I want to get it on and he just acts like he doesn't even notice. How can he not notice when it's obvious to everyone? I think he's not man enough to let me down like a decent person would. So instead he acts like some cute oblivious kid. But really, the fact is I don't care if he keeps me hanging on; I just want to be with him - all the time. My hormones are seriously running like crazy in this house. Sure I've had the odd boyfriend in the past but they were just stupid sixteen-year-old relationships that never last. I was never, ever tempted to go all the way with any of them but for some reason every time I see Damian I can't help but fantasize about what's under his clothes. Although I now know he doesn't like me, I really did think I was making some progress with him. I mean, he let's me sleep in his bed and sometimes I even feel like he's flirting with me. Especially when I'm cooking. But with all this difficulty I've been giving him about the redhead and Samuel I'm probably back to square one. Sometimes I feel like a little girl tying to win over her dreams. But unlike all those stupid chick-flicks I'm not going to get my happy ending. But maybe I can, at the very least have a friendship with him and I'll start by apologizing. Then sneakily getting the redhead out of my house without seeming too brassy. She still annoys me to no end.

Somebody starts to cough over by the beds. Someone's probably going to get up and interrupt my quiet time. Unless it's Damian, then it's fine. I listen intently at the few grunts and the crunching of dried out sheets. I turn back to the bench and scrub it down waiting for Damian to grab my shoulder; like always.

"You're the only one up?" A mellow voice says directly behind me. I jump startled by the change in what I thought was Damian's voice. I turn around and stare into the droopy face of Bryce. Does he always have to look so depressed? He's like bloody eeyore.

"Yes," I say bitterly. "I was having some peace and quiet actually."

"Oh, I apologize," Bryce, drones in a voice that obviously isn't sorry at all. He drags a chair over to the kitchen bench. It squeaks across the ground painfully. He sits down and rests his elbows on the bench and watches me intently.

"Did you want something?" I pout. Bryce likes to get on my nerves for the sake of it.

"Just wondering what the maid is cooking today," he smiles cheerfully, only to piss me off though. I turn around and scrub the bench menacingly, picturing Bryce's face and the redheads face under the brush.

"Nothing for you, that's for sure," I retort. Bryce scoffs and laughs a little. Just to annoy me again I presume. Trying to ignore the thought of Bryce watching me I dug into the cupboard for whatever food we had. I checked for my homemade bread; none there. I checked for regular bread; none there. A little panicky I looked for basic cereal and none was there. I turn to Bryce and eye him suspiciously.

"What, no food?" he says in mock surprise.

"You took it," I say blankly, not as a question, as an accusation.

He doesn't move a muscle as he glares back at me, "You're the one that went on the raid. Did you even bring any food back?"

Oh shit. We left the food sprayed all over the ground back in town. Well really, it's not our fault we were being circled by a heard of zombies.

"No we didn't. The zombies were just a tad distracting."

Bryce smirks and mumbles something under his breath. He is such a little brat.

"What was that?"

Bryce looks up and speaks each word so clearly it's like he's talking to a three-year-old, "If - I - was - allowed - to - go - we - would - have - food."

I lean my head back with a bitter laugh, "Please! You'd be too wasted to even pick up a box!"

Bryce suddenly stands up so his whole body is right up against mine. He glares down at me our nosing almost touching. "When are you going to let that go, Lindsay?!" he says in a semi-loud voice. He was still keeping a conscious effort to not wake up the others.

"I'll let it go when you prove you can leave the house without needing to take a tequila shot!" I too was on the verge of yelling, but I kept it at a civil point.

"Why do you have to keep butting heads with me? I'm not trying to hurt anyone, am I?" he spoke more quietly, with each word he spitted through his teeth.

"You obviously don't know the definition of the word then! Because in my eyes that's exactly what you're doing."

Bryce growls furiously, "There! You just said it yourself! In your eyes; that's only because your too obsessed with your baby crush on Damian to see anything bad in him so you just dump it on Bryce because, hey! he won't mind!"

I'd had enough of his bullshit right then, "Why are you even here Bryce? Huh? Nobody wants you, not even Emily!" My screams start to wake a few people up. There was a lot of ruffling coming from the beds and the odd awkward cough.

"Get over your jealous little self."

Damian poked his head over the couch, confused. He saw Bryce and I square to square with each other and cautiously got out of bed. "Just grow up Lindsay! We're in a zombie, fucking, apocalypse nobody has time for your games!"

Damian quickly ran over to us as I took another step closer, "Little wank-"

Damian pushes us far apart with two hands, like in the movies when breaking up a fight, "Guys cool down! Take a step back and chill for a moment!"

I step back slightly, breathing heavily. I was supposed to be impressing Damian with my maturity but the words spilled out of me like acid, "You might as well leave Bryce, we seriously don't want _you_!"

Bryce looks down crest-fallen. I'd crossed the line. Ashamed, I quickly sprint out of the room. I didn't want hear the redhead laugh at me, I didn't want to hear Bryce complain about me being a bitch. I didn't want to see Damian nod in agreement with a little crease between his eyebrows as he thought of what to do with me. I slam the door behind me probably waking everyone up but I don't care anymore. They'll hear the news eventually. Bryce would only be too keen to tell them all about evil Lindsay. I just want to run away so I'll never have to see them again. I keep acting so awfully and I can't help myself. It's like some sort of tourette's when instead of swearing I just lay insults over everybody. Tears streak down my face as I half stumble, half run down the dark corridor. It becomes hard to breathe choking on my tears so I slow down to a walk. Through everything horrible I've said I can't help but wonder, selfishly if Damian will come check on me. I listen for the open of the door back down the corridor but the only sound is the patter of my feet on the concrete. Of course he's not coming for me. I was right all along! He doesn't like me! He just try's to put up with me like I'm his... sister. The awful word sinks in on me and I crumble to the floor. When did I become so pathetic? I used to be strong. I used to be able to face anything, no matter what. Why have I become a crumbling mess? I've been through so much and I've toughed it all out not ever forgetting who I really was and who I wanted to be. And this sad, pathetic little girl is not the person I wanted to be. Is it this new family of mine that's made me so weak and fragile? I've never felt so united and needed before. Maybe I was letting it go to my head? I pulled my body off the ground and sat myself up with my back against the wall, legs out in front of me. I didn't want to be this girl. I don't know how I let it get this out of hand but it's going to change. I'm not going to let the redhead boss me around, I'm not going to let my love for Damian blind me and I'm definitely not going to let anyone stand all over me like a child. I sniffle and whip the remaining tears away from my eyes. I take a long breath preparing myself for the awkward battle in front of me. I was going to apologize to them all; despite the embarrassment it will bring me. It's what a strong, mature woman would do. I begin to stand up when I notice a figure waking towards me. Shocked, I drop back down to the ground onto my arse. The figure is short but stocky. I force the flutter of butterflies out of my stomach and watch silently as Damian takes a seat opposite me, his back also against the wall. He watches me, his face contorted in grief and defiance.

I speak first, "Damian, you don't have to say anything. I am sorry."

He sighs, in obvious relief. "Lindsay I didn't realize you objected-"

"I've been stupid. I see that now. I want to apologize to everyone," I smile encouragingly, trying to convince him that this is what I really want.

"Lindsay, I really had no clue why you seemed to dislike Marissa so much. I guess now that I think back to it, I have been really stupid-"

"Seriously Damian, I don't hate - Marissa -" I try to say the name without letting my distaste seep through. "I just don't like the gun. My family brought me up against all weaponry things." Lies.

Damian smiles slowly before speaking, "Was it really just the gun, Lindsay? Or was there another reason you didn't like her?"

I scoff, "Of course what other reason..." My voice goes quiet as I see the look on his face. He knows.

"Lindsay, you should know, I never liked-"

I cut him off to save myself the embarrassment. "I'm going to change, Damian. I know I've been such a bitch lately and I hate it. I don't want to jeopardize the family we have going on. I want to stay, together - as a family," I smile the best I can.

He nods solemnly, "As safe as you may feel here Lindsay we are still in a zombie apocalypse and it's a dangerous place. We lose people, we gain people. This isn't the time or place to start a relationship. It would never end the way you'd want it too."

"There is nothing I want from you Damian."

"If we were in any other place or in any other situation-"

"I just want to keep living the way we're living."

Damian grimaces, "Lindsay, I want you to know it's not that I don't love you-"

I panic and rush my words out, spitting slightly, "I love you too, Damo. You're the closest thing to _family_ I've had." I put empathize on family.

He reaches out his hand to me but thinks better of it and starts to fiddle with his jacket zip, "I never meant to hurt you either. If I'd known what you were thinking I wouldn't have let it... Well it's just-" Damian's cheeks flush red. With a rush of relief, I realize he's just as embarrassed as me. He can't finish his sentences. But that could also be my fault for cutting him off all the time.

"You've never hurt me, Damian. I'm fine and all I want is for things to go back to normal with us. With everyone." Thank God I'm a good liar.

"Lindsay I promise you-"

"The only promise I want from you Damian is your promise to keep us all safe."

"With all my heart."

"That's all I ask," I get to my feet. I quickly peck Damian on the cheek and make my way back down the dark corridor. I don't wait for him to follow, but the silence indicates he's still sitting where I left him. I try to muster all my strength to hold the tears back. Did I really have to apologize now? I've already faced enough embarrassment. But I might as well get it all out of the way now, I reminded myself. I lift my head high and walk through the door; it was partially open. They better not have been eavesdropping. I quickly scan the room to see who is awake. The answer: everyone. The group sits together spread over the two couches. Each pair of eyes stare straight at me, all in different shades.

Emily eyes me suspiciously; eager to hear what's going on. Cameron's are creased with worry; he's probably wondering where Damian is. Bryce glares at me, obviously a simple sorry isn't going to sit with him. Samuel looks at me with mild curiosity and next to him the redhead is trying her hardest not to smirk. The back of my throat starts to itch with a growl but I push the feeling down, that person is not me anymore. It never was me. I just got a little lost along the way. I march forward confidently till I stand in front of crowd. Their eyes follow me the whole way as they wait patiently for me to speak.

I take a deep breath, "Sorry guys. Seriously," I let out a nervous laugh. "I really am sorry. Emily, I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess. Cameron, I'm sorry for tearing you in two. Samuel, sorry for being so cold. Marissa, I'm sorry." I stop to take in another breath. "Bryce, I'm just so sorry. I don't know why but I always take my anger out on you and... Well... I'm going to change."

No one speaks but they all continue to look at me, like they are expecting more.

"I don't know what else to tell you. I'm just going to change." I look around at them, hoping to see some light change in their expressions.

Nobody speaks, nobody wants to go first. Awkwardly Samuel speaks up, "We'll be gone in a few days so it's alright with me," he smiles but it's obvious his mind is on other things. He never really cared for my petty drama in the first place.

Bryce takes a breath and cocks his head, "Makes no difference to me, Linds. In my eyes, you're not gonna change and that's just the way it is. So I'm going to go on a raid now, ya see, we have no food. Shame, ain't it? Try not to start a cat fight while I'm away yeah?" Bryce mimics my cold humorless laugh from before and then struts out of the room. The redhead squirms in her chair, like she's itching to make a snarky comment. Surprisingly she resists the urge and leaves the room following behind Bryce. Samuel, who seems to never be able to let the Redhead be alone, marches after her seconds later. I look back at the others hoping their reaction will be more hopeful.

Cameron stands up and embraces me in a tight hug, "Good to have you back." He smiles down at me genuinely but then also turns and leaves the room. So did nobody really accept my apology? Why did they all leave? I'm guessing they just don't want more drama - from me. I look back over at Emily. My last hope. If she doesn't forgive me I don't think I'll be able to live. Her eyes a wide open looking straight at me. Cautiously, I sit down beside her, bracing myself for her reaction.

She starts giggling and slaps her hand across her thigh, "Guurl, we've never had so much drama!"

* * *

Cameron.

Samuel is acting so nonchalant. He's trying to act like I never saw Marissa having a melt down last night at all. I know what I saw. And what did he mean by, "nothing"? Of course there was something! I just can't stop thinking about it. Has he talked to Marissa about it? Did he only act so chill about it because it happens every night? Is Marissa secretly just a drama queen? I can't see that to be true. Maybe Lindsay's name calling really got to her? I can't see that being true either. This is bothering me more than it should. I'm trying to be helpful for Damian but my eyes keep drifting to the redhead. She's smiling and laughing, talking intently to Bryce and Samuel. Is she not even embarrassed about what happened?

"Cameron!" Damian's fingers snap in front of my face pulling me away from my thoughts. I step back startled. I blink furiously and look back at Damian.

"Sorry," I whisper, urging myself to forget about last night.

"Are you even listening?" he smiles slightly as he kicks up dirt in the ground.

I think back to our conversation and take a stab in the dark, "Yes I was. You were saying that Lindsay is delicate and we are too mean."

Damian barks a laugh, "Not quite. But on that subject, I don't think she really is delicate. I think she's stronger than we now."

"Lindsay? I don't know..." I say while still staring straight at Marissa. She's teasing Samuel.

Damian, oblivious that my mind is on other things, continues, "Think about it, how much do we know about her past? She must have been alone for a long time before you found her."

"And when I did, the first thing she did was ball her eyes out and plead at my feet," I say jokingly.

Damian tuts, thinking hard, "Well maybe she'd been fighting so hard she was tired? Maybe she was waiting for somebody to pick her up so she wouldn't have to fight alone anymore..."

Cameron smiles. Damian cares for Lindsay. That much was obvious. But it's almost a weird affection he has for her. I don't quite understand it and I don't think he does either. "I think you're over analyzing it too much. Maybe she was cornered by zombies, thought she was going to die and was eternally grateful when she didn't."

"Maybe," Damian mutters. He pats me on the back and walks forward. Although Samuel and Marissa are here, Damian can't help himself but take lead. He slowly marks the front of the line, Bryce right behind him. I walk at the back alone, giving myself some thinking time. We are relatively safe here. Zombies rarely come on the open field. There isn't food out here usually because we hardly ever cross this field and I'm pretty sure we are the only humans left in town. It's only because we're going on a big, foot raid. Well, it's not like we don't always go on foot raids. We don't have a car so we just call it a normal raid. But that's what Samuel keeps calling it.

My mind drifts back to last night, again. For the millionth time. It has seriously become an obsession. I need to know why she was crying. It's none of my business but it's so out of character that I can't help but be extremely curious. In front Samuel starts to slowly drift to the left, as the sun gets hotter. We all start to slow down a little, puffing and sweating. Bryce even pulls off his shirt. I take advantage of the separation between Marissa and Samuel and stalk forward. I march quietly so I don't give her a fright with my intensity.

I slow down so my walking is in sync with hers, "Hey." I can't help but cringe at how awkward I sound.

She turns towards me in shock. "Hey," she says slowly.

I search my brain for something to say. I saw the only stupid thing I can think of, "So, we don't usually have that much drama at home."

She doesn't make any motion but keeps walking straight forward, "Sorry. That's probably my fault." Her voice is stiff. Maybe she doesn't like me because she knows I don't like her?

"Nah," I say with a wave of my hand. "Damian too. She has a crush on him and he didn't know."

Out of the corner of my eye I see her nod, "Yeah, I noticed."

"Everyone did."

We go silent, again. I can't think of anything to say and neither can she. Or maybe she doesn't want to talk to me. Either way the awkward silence continues on. I look across at her but she's still staring straight forward. Not a muscle moves in her face. Her eyes are tight not drifting from the field in front of her. Behind her Samuel stares straight at me. He shakes his head slowly his eyes open wide. I turn back slowly, surprised. Was he asking me not to talk to her? I quickly jump right to it before he can interrupt.

"Marissa?" I ask.

She jumps in surprise and looks at me confused. Had I ever addressed her by name before?

"Yeah?" she says back, now looking at me.

I take a breath, "Are you okay?"

She scrunches her eyebrows together, "yes."

"Last night? We're you okay last night?"

She nods slowly, without taking her eyes off me, "Yes. Do you mean the Lindsay thing?"

"No. When you went to sleep. Were you okay?" I turn away from her gaze. Her eyes are intoxicating. Frightening but addictive at the same time.

"Yes, I don't understand what you mean?"

My face is drawn back to hers. She looks seriously worried now. But completely confused. Does she really have no idea what I'm talking about?

"Last night I saw you. You looked like you'd been-"

"Cameron!" Samuel barks, suddenly coming up behind Marissa. "I told you to forget it." Samuel glares at me furiously.

"To forget what?" Marissa says in a stern voice. She turns and looks straight at Samuel. He doesn't look at her, just at me.

"Oh nothing. Cameron and I heard some squeaking last night. He thought it was you but probably was Lindsay, right Cameron?" Samuel says tightly.

Marissa turns her gaze on me now. Her stare is so hard and determined. She looks straight at me and I feel the sudden urge to tell her nothing but the truth.

"Uhh-" I mutter.

"Right?" Samuel says again through clenched teeth.

"Right." Marissa looks unsure but she nods slowly anyhow. I slow down my pace so I fall behind. Samuel steps in and starts up another conversation with Marissa. Probably trying to distract her. I'm sure she's the type of person who wont stop till she finds out the truth. Which seems weird. She's the one who was crying. Shouldn't she know exactly what was going on? Something weird is going on. Either that or Samuel is ridiculously protective.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I haven't posted in so long so I'm sorry about that. I'll try post faster from now on. Well, hopefully haha. I hope the little TGP2 makes up for it though...**

**Read and review!**

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Bryce.

I'm going to do it. I'm defiantly going to do it. There is no turning back now. I have to go. Emily will be fine. Marissa and Samuel are here now. I'm confident nothing will happen to her with them around. They are always prepared. Nothing can hurt her now. Not even me. She might even be glad to see me gone. Who knows? Either way, for myself, I still need to say some sort of goodbye. I pull myself out of depressing thoughts and look at Emily on the couch. She's always on that couch. It's her throne. She never gives it up for anyone. Although, lately I've caught her moving over a little when Samuel comes near. She's always had a thing for flirting, boy or girl and I guess Cameron and Damian aren't good enough for her any more. Or maybe she actually appreciates Lindsay's friendship more than anything. A fight for Damian is probably not something she wants. Anyway, maybe the next time I come back to see her she'll be together with Samuel. I doubt that will happen though. She either can't see it or doesn't want to see it, but Samuel has some weird attachment to Marissa.

Although I only met Samuel and Marissa a week ago I think I'll really miss them. Samuel is such a chill dude. We get along well because we both make an effort not to piss the other off. We actually have quite a bit in common too. If we weren't in a zombie apocalypse and in the normal world I could see us being good mates. And Marissa too. She is so dope. We have a common interest in disliking Lindsay and making fun of her. Cameron, I probably won't miss him as much as Damian but I'll miss his odd, optimistic view on things. But Damian. My heart thumps painfully against my chest. I think I'm really going to miss him. I know he is best friends with Cameron so I never quite measured up to him but we still had so much fun going on raids together. Before Samuel and Marissa came and practically saved our lives Damian's was my kick-ass zombie fighting buddy. Killing zombies will never be the same without him.

I sigh loudly. It's getting late. Emily will probably want to get some sleep soon. I squirm out of my seat and drag myself over to Emily's sofa. She turns at the movement and watches me suspiciously. She must have seen the urgency in my eyes though, for she squirms over to make room for me.

"What do you want?" she moans, though the corner of her mouth turns up slowly.

"Just wanted to remind you I love ya," I joke and wrap my arms around her shoulders.

Surprisingly she settles against me and rests her head against my shoulder. It's almost like she knows what my plans are and is trying to make me stay. "I love you too. Even though you're one of the most annoying people I've ever known."

"You're so appreciative."

She laughs, "You know it," she curls into me. I'm too content to talk. In a way, I wish I could stay like this forever. We haven't got a long much lately but I'm still protective of her. She's my little sister. I must come back for her. They'll still be here. Probably.

I feel myself drifting quietly. It's so relaxing sitting here. With her head resting against me makes me so comfortably it makes me doubt why I even wanted to leave in the first place. But no matter how good it feels now to be with my sister again, I haven't forgotten what it's like to live here in this house. Lindsay's apology didn't change much. I'll still be treated the same. I'm not being a pussy. I just want a little respect. I want some proper freedom, where a short black haired girl does not boss me around. I don't want to be the punching bag anymore and I know Damian and Cameron mean well but deep down they'd always take Lindsay's side.

"You all right?" Emily asks suddenly.

"Yeah, man. Why?"

Emily sighs, "I guess you've been a bit picked on lately."

I rub her head affectionately, "You know me, Ems. Tough as nails."

She nods slowly, "Yeah."

She squirms and moves her head down to my chest. I kind of want to stay like this forever but I can't and the sooner I leave the easy it will be. I pull away from Emily and kiss her forehead. She laughs quietly and turns around to rest her head against the crusty pillow. She sighs and without opening her eyes, rolls over. I walk across the room towards my bed hoping to catch somebodies eye. Maybe everyone will be nice tonight? Damian nods and smiles at me as I pass the round table. He's trying his hardest to make everything happy in the house. But even he can't deny the tension. He looks at me for a split second before quickly lingering his stare back to Lindsay. His eyes twitch in a longing way. Poor boy. He's so confused. I don't bother to say goodnight or in this case goodbye to Lindsay. I never do anyway. That'll just make me look suspicious. I turn to look at her though. She's in the kitchen (like always), knitting something. Looks like a scarf... or maybe a noose. Damian brought her knitting needles and wool on the raid last week. I think he's trying to make things better from when he rejected her. I walk over to Cameron. He's cleaning our emergency shower with a scrubber brush. I pat him on the shoulder lightly, though he jumps out of his skin with a quiet screech.

I laugh gently, "What's up man? Did I scare you?"

He shakes his head without looking at me. His eyes are glazed over as he looks over at Samuel with a snare.

"Nah, man. I'm just a bit distracted," he says quietly and turns back to the bucket of soapy water. The drama in the room is bothering me more than it should. I'm leaving all that behind. _Just forget about it._

"Well, goodnight," I say in the most cherry voice I can muster. He nods sharply. What a brilliant farewell. I look over at Marissa and Samuel. I want to say goodbye to them too but by the looks on their empty faces I'll get just another grunt. I'd rather make up my own memory of them all crying and sulking about my departure as I break all their hearts by walking out the door.

I walk to my bed, shoulders hunched and dump myself on top of the sheets. This is going to be a long night.

* * *

It's been at least an hour since Damian went to bed. I'm sure everyone must be asleep by now. Slowly, I push the dirty blanket off me and drag myself away from my mattress. I'm so tired! Why did Damian have to stay up half the night sulking over Lindsay? I make my way round the beds, just missing Lindsay's face by an inch. She's so sad. Sleeping on the floor like a hobo. She really is too stubborn. I hold my mouth shut from swearing as Lindsay lets out a snort in her sleep. Ha! I so wish I could tell Marissa about that before I leave. Oh well.

"Bryce?" I jump startled by the aggressive voice to my left. I sigh in relief when I turn to see the face of Samuel. He's out of bed, leaning against the wall, wide-awake.

"What're you doing man?" I say casually. I have to remain cool. I have to get out.

"Can't sleep," he murmurs with a flick of his hand. "What are you doing?"

I shrug nonchalantly, "Need some air." I turn towards the door in a rush before he can offer to join me. I look back down at the ground to watch my feet. I see the top of Samuels and Marissa's mattress just by my feet. I gasp loudly at the sight of Marissa's crumpled body. She's curled up at the top of the mattress, her face screwed together in pain. If I didn't know any better I'd think there are tears dripping down her face too. I force myself to forget her face and quickly half sprint to the door. I wrench it open, and smile at Samuel one last time before I walk through the door. As soon as I pull the heavy door shut with the quietest bang I could manage, I sprint down the long dark corridor. I trip often in the pitch-blackness but keep going forward, foot after foot. Nothing can stop me from freedom now. I'm so close I can smell it. I guess I should start thinking about a plan, though. Its not like I can run straight out into the dark and expect no zombies to catch me. I'm not going to find other humans straight away either. I need some sort of transport. A truck. Samuel's truck.

It doesn't take me long to reach the outside door. I'm running so fast that my feet feel like they'll spin off my body any minute. I smash the door against the wall with my hastiness to leave. I try to calm myself down; I'll die in minutes if I don't remember to take precautions. I can't stop though. I slam the door close so fast I feel like I'm the hulk, my body pumping with adrenaline. I turn quickly and peak at Samuel's truck. I'll never see him again and he'll never see me. So what's the risk? I have to make a decision now. Zombies don't sleep during the night. In fact I don't think they sleep at all. I peer down the alley and scan the open road. There is no way I can walk around in the dark. It's way too dangerous! I sprint to the car and jump in the drivers seat within seconds. I can be faster than a cheater when I want to be. The keys are left in the ignition, of course. In a zombie apocalypse there is no need to worry about your car being stolen. How is a zombie supposed to start a car when it can't open a door? I rev up the truck and smile in triumph. I'm out. Nobody can stop me now. I wind down the windows and drive forward at top speed. I drift around the corners and cheer loudly like my fifteen year old self. This is the life. Try stop me now, Lindsay.

* * *

It's almost sunrise. I can feel the bitter morning wind blowing through my long hair. I touch the back of my head; at the back my hair reaches down past my shoulders. I push my fringe back off my face. My hair desperately needs to be cut again. I should have got Emily to do it before I left. I'll probably cut an ear off if I try.

It's been a very long, cold night. No zombies came but there was no sign of any humans either. I need to get further out. I bet my groups of survivors were the only ones in Ohio. Oddly that makes me feel more proud than sad. Yeah, I'm not very sensitive. I guess that's a good quality to have when trying to survive a zombie apocalypse, though. No lose ends, that's how you survive. I'm lucky to have nobody holding me back from my own survival. That's Damian's problem. Too worried about trying to keep everyone else alive to keep himself safe. He'll get himself killed. I only worry about myself. Well, Emily too I suppose. Just a little. But Nana, even if she is still out there somewhere hanging on, I don't really care. She was a right little cow. Quite like Lindsay actually. I laugh out loud. Oh man. I'm laughing at my inner jokes. If I don't find human contact soon I'll go insane. I pull the keys out of my pocket and rev up the ignition. I feel like such a beast in this car. I can see why Samuel loved it so much. I wind the windows back up to block the cold and start driving. I speed right up till I'm way over the speed limit. There are some parts I love about a zombie apocalypse. And this is part of it. I've always wondered what it would be like to live in a world where there are no rules. The closest thing I've ever got to that feeling is when I took my girlfriend from three years ago to the movies and we were the only ones in the cinema. Even then though she wouldn't let me roll backwards over the chairs. Apparently I could break my neck, or some stupid reason like that.

I peel my eyes to the road looking for sign of recent human movement. But nothing. Just more disaster after another paints the dull, lonely streets.

Hours pass and as night starts to approach, I begin to feel let down. What if I'm wrong? What if there is nobody here? What if there is nobody anywhere? What if the last chance of human survival was actually the people I left back in Lima? _What if? What if? What if?_ I start to doubt my intentions and make excuses of why I should turn back. But I stay strong. I've gone this far. I can't turn back now. There really has to be somebody somewhere-

"AHHHHHH, fuck!" I panic and swerve the truck towards the left as it pelts forward towards a picket fence. Did someone just throw mud at the truck? The truck smashes through the fence like the snap of a biscuit and heads towards an old brick house. I panic and spin the turning wheel. But nothing happens; in fact the car speeds up. In rush of panic I realize my foot is pressed down hard against the gas. It's too late. I scream as the truck flattens a bed of roses and pummels into the house. I crouch down low and put my hands over my head as the roof begins to dint inwards with a big bangs. _Samuels going to kill me!_ I don't move a muscle as the quiet crumble of bricks clattering against the truck cease. My heart is racing so fast I feel like it might explode out my chest. I take a peak up at the window screen. Apart from it being completely smashed and there is tumble of bricks rolling into the car, I can see the smudge of a mud splatter. Someone had thrown mud at the truck! Someone trying to hurt me? Or warn me? Or just an asshole? I turn slowly to try and pry open the door. I gasp loudly. A figure is looming over the window staring straight at me! I try to think quickly, what's the best way to kill a zombie from my position? I open the door, swinging it fast and powerfully. But the figure is just as quick; it slams the door to an abrupt stop.

"Easy! Easy!" the voice urges. A husky male's voice. My hands shake but I force them to my side. He's human. There is nothing to fear. I breathe in and out slowly waiting for the man to make a move. Once I completely stop hyperventilating he opens the door wide and offers me his hand. I squirm forward dodging the clutter of more bricks that come through the window. He moves his face from behind the doorframe and looks at me with mild amusement. He has brown eyes with thick scruffy brown hair. He's quite pale but tall and athletic looking. I ignore his hand and drag myself out of the truck. I stumble a little on my feet though the adrenaline is still firing through me.

"Did you do this?" I half growl. I didn't want to be too aggressive for he was the first human I'd seen in a while. I didn't want him to hate me right off the bat.

He smiles crookedly. One side of his mouth goes up higher than the other, "Not intentionally. That was their fault," he points to the other side of the road where two more figures appear. Two males by the looks of it. One very skinny and one very short. My stiff neck turns back to the tall man. I shake myself suddenly to loosen my muscles. My knee clicks painfully. Mental reminder to check that later; could be broken.

"Did you intentionally mean to make me crash?" I ask the tall guy sarcastically.

He laughs with the nod of his head, "No! We were debating whether we should stop you or not, you know, to see if you're human? I was thinking of just running onto the road but then Dani threw mud at your window," he looks over at his friends. They were closer now so I could see them both better. The short one was really short and was not at all a child but a fit man with bangs across his face. The other looks extremely young. Just a boy. I watch as his hair swishes across his face with a flick of his head. Could I be meeting _the_ Justin Bieber?!

"So you didn't actually mean to kill me then?" I say calmly to the two approaching.

"No of course not," Justin Bieber says in his pubescent voice, "I'm no murderer." He steps forward and takes my hand in a strong grasp. "I'm Dani." Dani? I look closely at his face; soft skin, long eyelashes, red lips.

I feel my mouth pop open in shock. I say in a rush, "You're a - a - a -"

"Girl," Dani nods her head solemnly. "A common misconception."

I shake my head, suddenly embarrassed by my rudeness. "I'm sorry! Of course you're a girl! You do look like - a - you know - a - a - girl. It's the short hair! It threw me off," I mumble my face going red.

She laughs and the two others - I quickly scan - who are definitely both boys, join in. "Honestly, I just take it as a compliment."

The tall guy, the one I originally met, speaks again, "Anyway, what's your name stranger who we almost killed? This is Matheus," he points to the short man, "and I'm Charlie."

I smile at them both confidently, "I'm Bryce. Room to drag another along? I'm short of a car," I shake my head and look back at my car longingly.

The three laugh again. I smile a little too. I think I'm going to fit in here. "Of course you may, there is always room for another," Dani pats me on the back and smiles. She has perfect, white, straight teeth.

Charlie looks at Dani pointedly and says without looking at me, "We are traveling to California though."

Dani nods exasperated, "Yes Charlie, I know we are. But you don't mind, do ya Bryce?"

I nod, "Anywhere and everywhere. I got no where to go anyway."

Dani raises her eyebrows at Charlie as if to say 'told you.' Charlie nods suddenly serious and walks away without another word. The other two follow right after. I quickly grab the truck car keys from the ignition as a gift for Samuel and follow after the short man, Matheus. I walk up beside him casually, pushing down the awkward squirm that is trying to fight its way up in my stomach.

"So is Charlie the leader here?" I ask coolly.

Matheus looks up at me with a flat face, "We don't have leaders, right Dani?"

Dani looks down at Matheus with strained eyes, "Right." I look between them startled. Just seconds ago they were sweet as and now I feel I've just entered an intense game of Cluedo.

I speak up, my awkwardness seeping through, "That's cool. Leaders are annoying. I had one at the last place I stayed at. She was just terrible," I laugh shakily.

They both smile affectionately at me. "You were with other humans? What happened to them? Did zombies eat them?" Matheus asks in an almost childish voice.

"Nothing, they're fine," I reassure him quickly, "They just weren't very nice people." Not technically true, but its a quicker story than the real one.

Matheus nods slowly and Dani smiles at me, "Welcome to the new group then! Trust me we're very nice." I grin back at her before she runs after Charlie. Now that I know she's a girl, I can't see how I could ever have thought her to be a boy. She's got shape.

Matheus tuts beside me, shaking his head vigorously.

"What?" I laugh.

"You should have stayed with your other friends."

"Why?"

He looks up at me, amused, "Dani and Charlie are nice but if you want to survive, just stick with me."

* * *

Cameron.

"Emily, please calm down!" Lindsay pleads attempting to grab Emily around the waist.

But Emily is vicious; she pushes Lindsay away with a snarl. "I won't calm down until one of you goes out there and finds my brother!" Emily screeches.

Samuel quickly holds Lindsay out of reach from another swing. Emily growls in frustration.

"Marissa and Damian are already out looking," I say quietly. My strategy is to never get involved with any drama but if I don't help cool this situation, Lindsay could be mauled.

Emily turns on me stepping forward menacingly, "That is not enough!" I hold down a laugh of irony. She will never step outside into the zombie world. Even if her brother is missing, she'd rather endanger others lives than her own. "FIND HIM!" She screams in my face; spit flying all over me.

Emily turns back to Lindsay and Samuel. They're probably more likely to give in to her than I am. Lindsay smiles at Samuel as he drops her back down to the ground, "We can't all leave the house, Emily. I'm sorry but somebody has to stay-"

Emily shakes her head stupidly, "I'll stay!"

Samuel moves around Lindsay and steps in front of her as protection, "Damian and Marissa are perfectly capable-"

"BUT THEY AREN'T ENOUGH!" Emily looks around at all our faces. I try to smile pityingly but I feel it comes out more bitter than sweet. Emily sighs and storms out of the room. Is she really going outside? Well if that's not an achievement I don't know what is.

Samuel drops down on the couch exasperated, "Waste of time. He isn't coming back." Mean, but true.

I nod, "He'll be long gone."

Lindsay looks at us both outraged, "You could at least help her! I know I've said some bad things about Bryce in the past but he'd never leave Emily! Never!"

"Seriously Lindsay, you really think-"

"I do," she snaps. She eyes me suspiciously before marching out of the room in her diva way. She's still yelling like always but I guess it's nice that she's helping Emily out through thick and thin. I watch her leave then turn back towards Samuel awkwardly.

"I shot not sleeping with Emily or Lindsay-" I begin to say.

"I told you not to talk to Marissa," Samuel says sharply. His eyes turn to slits and his mouth curls in a grimace.

I move around to the other side of the chair nervously, "Look, I'm sorry. I was just curious why-"

"If you're so curious why didn't you ask me?"

"Because you weren't the one crying! And I obviously wasn't going to get an answer from you..."

Samuel laughs coldly, "Well your definitely not going to get one from her."

I shake my head with a laugh of my own, "She doesn't hate me as much as you think she does. You know, I think you're just jealous that she's warming up to me." His eyes widen in shock as I smirk at him.

"That has nothing to do with it! Firstly, Marissa is nice to you because she's just a nice person-" I bark a laugh, "And secondly, she wouldn't tell you the answer because she doesn't know the answer!"

"Oh, stop the crap Samuel. I'm only curious! You don't have to make a big deal out of it! Just tell me. What was it, huh? Did you hit her? Is that what it is? Are you abusing her, Samuel?" In a flash, Samuel jumps up in a fit of rage. I try to step back out of his way but next thing I know, a fist comes flying towards my face and I hear the little crack of my glasses snapping in two.


End file.
